A Pain Too Deep
by Jack of the North
Summary: A companion piece to twin babies. Percy may be a tough Bounty Hunter now, but how did it all start? With a pain too deep... Inspired by Grande.Vanilla.Skim.Latte's craziness. Rating for violence but nothing too graphic.


Percy sat in the kitchen while the party raged outside in the garden

Percy sat in the kitchen while the party raged outside in the garden. People came and went, to use the bathroom, grab some more food or just looking for somewhere more private to talk. There gazes passed over him as if he wasn't even there. They went straight from the cupboard on his left to the window on his right, not even really seeing him. It had always been like this, ever since he could remember which happened to be right around when the twins were born. Bill was popular and smart, Charlie was the tough Quidditch seeker and dragon tamer, the twins were the twins, say no more, Ron was Harry Potter's best friend and helped save the world and Ginny was the only girl, tough because she had to be but beautiful at the same time. Then there was him, the son that ran away. The son that had abandoned his family to follow the ministry like a sheep. But then the final battle had happened and he came back. He thought everything would change, he would be the son that returned. But no, he was still the son that ran away and people's gazes still slid straight past him.

He heard a noise in the living room and tucking a knife into his boot and grabbing his wand, he crept towards the door that lead to the room. Despite the noises from outside and the various rooms upstairs the he heard was distinctly ominous in its sounding. Pushing the door silently open, a dark robed figure was revealed. It was rifling through the cabinets in the living room, clearly searching for something.

"Halt!" Percy commanded and the figure froze, crouched over an open drawer. "What are you doing here?"

Before Percy could react, the figure had turned and pointed his wand at Percy.

"Expelliarmus!"

Percy felt his wand fly out of his hand but cold hard steel of the knife still pressed firmly against his ankle.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded. The figures face was cover with a Death Eaters mask and Percy was suddenly very aware that there was still an abundance of Death Eaters roaming the countryside.

"Where is Harry Potter?" the figure asked.

Percy laughed boldly. "Riddle couldn't kill him but you think you are going to? How foolish you must be."

"Where is he?" he yelled.

A fireworks display just outside the window distracted the masked assailant and suddenly Percy jumped at him. With reflexes so quick they surprised even Percy he grabbed the knife from his boot and thrust it deep into the man's robes, right over his chest. The man gasped and coughed, splattering Percy with blood. Percy ripped off the mask to find a man he used to work with staring up at him.

"Tell Potter we're coming for him," the man gurgled and with one last shuddering breath, he fell silent. Percy kneeled over the body, stunned at what he had just done.

"Perc, what are you doing?" Ginny asked, skipping down the stairs. She stopped when she realised what she was looking at. She stood silent and in shock for a moment before opening her mouth and letting out a blood curdling scream.

* * *

"How was the party?" Penelope Clearwater asked when Percy finally made it home some time later. "Oh Merlin, what happened?"

Percy had wiped the blood of his face but there was still a splatter down the front of his forest green robes.

"There was an attack," he gasped, his voice hoarse and his throat raw from retelling his story so many times. The Ministry had been contacted, he'd had to give an official statement and after that everyone wanted to talk about it. They wanted every detail rehashed and retold so often that he wasn't even sure any more what was true and what he had just imagined.

"Was anyone hurt?" Penny asked, putting down her book and sitting up in bed.

"Only the Death Eaters whose chest I thrust a kitchen knife into."

"Oh my Gods, Percy, what – what happened?"

Percy sighed and wearily told his story yet again. Penny followed him around their small house as Percy disrobed and climbed into the shower.

Though he didn't have the Quidditch muscles his other brothers had, his body was lean and fit. He'd thrown his whole weight behind the knife and he wondered what would have happened if he had simply stabbed at the man instead of ramming the knife into his chest. Would the man still be dead? Would Percy now be dead instead. No one had blamed him for the man's death, the words self defence had been used more then once but as he climbed into bed, snuggling up to Penny, he couldn't help but blame himself.

"He was a death eater Percy," Penny whispered in the dark, running her fingers across his taut back. "You didn't do anything that anyone else wouldn't have done."

He finally relaxed against her gentle rubbings and whispered words and in the comforting arms of his long-time love, drifted off to sleep.

* * *

It was raining, heavily. There had been a write up in the newspaper about what had happened at the party. Despite being a Death Eater the man was a well-respected employee of the ministry so after breakfast Percy had to go into the ministry to again go over exactly what had happened, if it was possible the man had been under the Imperius Curse or acting under duress. But Percy was certain the man was fully aware of his actions, not under any spell or outside influence and told them so. Finally, they had been convinced and Percy was free to go.

"Penny?" Percy called entering the silent house. Normally she would be cooking dinner with the wireless on, dancing and singing in that horrible off-key voice. The rain pounded against the windows as Percy slowly made his way through to the kitchen.

"Pen?" he said quietly, noticing for the first time that splatters of blood all over the hallway and living room.

He gasped when he entered the kitchen. Blood was everywhere. He didn't think the human body could hold that much blood. Stuck to the wall by a bloodied knife was the newspaper from that morning. Across the article about the previous night's events 'an eye for an eye' was scrawled. The back door banged opened and closed and Percy noticed the pattern of blood leading outside. Running for the door, he slipped in a large pool of blood, effectively covering half his body in the dark red liquid.

"Penelope," Percy sobbed, stumbling to his feet and heading out into the rain. Not far from the house under a tree a dark shadow covered the ground. At first he thought it was simply the light playing tricks but after a frantic second glance around the yard he realised the shadow was the size and shape of his girlfriend. Running towards her body he tripped and fell in the rain soaked grass, mud and grim mixing with the blood, his glasses were pushed askew.

"Penny!" he cried desperately but he knew she was gone. No one could lose that much blood and live.

Finally reaching her body he threw himself at her, much like he had done to Fred's body. The rain had washed away most of her blood, leaving her bruised and cut, staring blankly up at the branches of the tree.

"I'll get them," he whispered to her. "I promise you, I will kill them for what they did to you."

Tears overcame him which soon turned into deep guttural cries of pain. Pain so deep and primal he was sure it would cut his skin and let his life pour out. Into the rain he screamed, cursing anyone and everyone he could think of. Finally a calm overtook him and grabbing his wand he appareted into the night, in search of those who had did this.

* * *

**I don't know yet if this is just going to be a oneshot or not...**


End file.
